Persons of limited mobility often use motorized vehicles to assist in day-to-day activities. Often these vehicles must be transported in an automobile or the like. One common way of moving the vehicle into and out of the automobile is a powered-lifting device having a support platform. These lifting devises often have control systems to instruct the motors that operate the lift systems. The control system can be hard wired or wireless. Remote control systems that use infrared type wireless controllers must implement an infrared receiving window in the line of sight of the remote control. If the infrared window is not in the line of sight, the remote control must be relocated in order to operate the lift apparatus. Use of the hard wired controller is restricted by the length of the connecting wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,223,364 to Egan shows a lifting and transferring apparatus for assisting persons on entering and exiting a vehicle. The lifting apparatus is controlled by a control unit indicated to be either a wireless remote control unit and/or a hard wired control modular control unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,955 to McCullough shows a lifting apparatus for use with a vehicle or adjacent horizontal raised platform. A wireless controller communicates with the control module attached to the upper portion of the lift frame. A wired controller is also connected to the control module.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,916 to Gisske et al., shows a residential stairway lift having a stationary motor drive unit, a mobile platform moving along a stairway and a user interface. The mobile platform communicates with the motor drive unit through a continuous broad beamed infrared link. The motor drive unit communicates with the mobile platform through an intermittently established short-range infrared link. There is also a user interface in the form of a hard wired controller monitored on an adjacent wall.